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A Toronto couple’s $660,000 bid turned out to be the winning offer in the auction for a unique, small stone country castle near Kingston, Ont.

Xin Quing Bai and his wife, Ying Ma, hit the road for the Kingston auction about 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday so they could tour the waterfront property before the 11 a.m. deadline for bid submissions.

They submitted their bid against 13 competing offers just in time, said the seller’s agent. The minimum bid required was $300,000.

“It was right down to the wire,” said Manson Slik of Gordon’s Estate Service in Kingston.

The buyers’ Century 21 agent Baolin Zhu said his clients got excited after seeing the “beautiful” 66-acre property, which includes a private, gated house with turrets, an elevator, a cedar grove and 2,000 feet of waterfront.

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The home was owned by a Whitby couple who bought it as retirement property in 2003. They finished it and added a separate three-car garage and guest apartment. But when their children grew up and got busy in the city, Dieter and Jacqueline Finkeldey didn’t want to keep up the property.

“They are feeling a lot better now,” said Slik. “They are satisfied. They feel like it sold for a reasonable price that allows them to move on with the rest of their goals,” he said.

The Finkeldeys told The Star before the auction they had hoped to get more — at least about $800,000, the property’s assessed value. But after listing in the past for more than $1 million, Jacqueline said they were just anxious to be able to move on with their retirement and travel plans.

The new owners, who enjoy fishing, plan to use the stone and wood home as a vacation retreat initially and then retire there, said their agent. They are also considering turning it into a bed and breakfast.

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